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In Memoriam: Peanut Butter / PB / Peebs, 2008 - 2020

The house feels very empty tonight. So very blessed to have shared one quarter of my life, to date, with this sweet soul. Love and miss you so Peanut Butter. My heart aches.

  

Hello and Happy 2016!

Friends and Family,

Happy 2016!

I love this time of year because I reconnect with the people I care about, I root for, the people whose lives I enjoy watching unfold. This phase of life, too - a time of steadfast toil and being there for young children - makes connecting particularly challenging and when it happens particularly rewarding. I've enjoyed hearing from some of you and if you haven't reached out and reconnected, please do. We'd love to hear from you.


Here's our year in review...

Hawaii

This year Mom and Dad moved to Hawaii. They purged everything for the move, sending only their most precious keepsakes like this postcard from my Great Great Uncle Russell Whitford's post card album from the turn of the 20th century.


A Year of Work

Steve and I worked - he is heading toward his eighth year as IT professional at CU-Boulder (University of Colorado, Boulder) and this spring I will have worked four years as a housing planner at City of Boulder. If you're curious about what I do, here's a link to Housing Boulder, a community conversation about housing in Boulder.

We applied ourselves hard on the weekends, too, ...

creating a basement apartment,

replacing the kitchen floor,

Before

After

and updating the living room

Tearing out the brick from the wood stove that took up 75% of the living room.

Before

After

among other things.


Gemma

In March, Gemma joined our household from Ireland as Corvin and Mazzie's au pair. We have been blessed to have such a stead, reliable, caring woman in our lives.

Mazzie, Gemma and Corvin, Cottonwood Farms, Boulder

Play

Though at times it has felt like a year of nothing but work, looking back, we found time to play too.

Every Valentine's Day since the kids were born, we have gone to the Mercury Cafe to celebrate the day we realized we were going to be parents. 2015 was no exception.

For spring break, we vacationed in Salida, CO and visited Sand Dunes National Park

and the Colorado Gators Reptile Park

among other places.

A few other fun memories...

Corvin, Easter time

Hiking, Ceran St. Vrain

Sunflower Farm in Longmont

Heading up to the mountains for Steve's birthday and a blood moon.

Corvin, Butterfly Pavilion

Mazzie the Fairy Queen, face paint

Red Rocks

Dragon Knight

Mazzie on a Mazzie/Mommy date

Googley Girl being stalked by Googley Man

Friends and Family

We had a steady trickle of visitors this year, too, which is how we like it.

Friends from grad school and their offspring too.

Mazzie with the fabulous Miss Gigi

Our house has been full of family, beginning in October with Steve's mom who bought us a little time to get in touch with our inner outdoor enthusiasts and one another,

Estes Park

then Steve's sister Michelle,

On the Pearl Street Mall

and finally Mom.

New Year's Eve 2015

We visited friends and family too --

some near

L to R: unknown, Mazzie, Corvin and Otto

and some far.

We rendezvoused with my brother and his family on the Mendocino Coast in Northern California as well as childhood friends Katie and Rachel and their father Ken. It was a bittersweet reunion, since Pat, an uncommon woman - confident, smart, sassy, funny as hell and a nurturing mother to Katie and Rachel and life partner extraordinaire to Ken - exited this plane in 2015. We were all deeply blessed to have our lives touched by her.

L to R: Steve, Corvin, Finn and Jade Star

Okay, these guys aren't friends or family, but they're cute.

L to R: Mazzie, Siri, Addia, Ronin, Finn and Corvin

L to R: Addia and Mazzie

New Adventures for Corvin and Mazzie

This year, Mazzie and Corvin played their first team sport

and began Kindergarten.

first day of school

Writing

And finally, I am two years into my work on a novel-length memoir/work of creative nonfiction exploring my father's five-day trial when his commercial fishing boat sank in December 1977 and he was rescued on Christmas Eve.

On work days, I write on the bus ride to and from work and I have started to host a couple hour writers' gathering on Sundays afternoons.

I was fortunate to have a one-day writing retreat in September on a farm near Boulder.

And crazy enough, this year a book that has been ten years in the works was published by Temple University Press and I wrote Chapter 2!

In Closing

I have dreams big and little for this coming year. I hope you do too. Closing remarks from Corvin and Mazzie's fortune cookies from Ting's Place, a local institution here in Lafayette, Colorado.

A healthy, abundant, whimsical, magical, fantastic New Year to you and yours!

Crystal